The present invention relates to a method of reestablishing or restoring the deformability or malleability of an embrittled amorphous alloy.
It is known that amorphous alloys that are subjected to a high temperature become brittle; embrittlement of the amorphous alloys can even occur during the manufacturing process. In order for the amorphous alloys to be able to obtain certain magnetic properties, these alloys are treated at specific temperatures. However, the result of this thermal treatment is that the alloys become brittle with the disadvantageous result that magnetically optimum amorphous alloys can no longer be mechanically processed.
A further drawback of this type of manufacture of amorphous alloys is that, for example with flat bands or strips produced from these alloys, above a certain thickness these bands become so brittle that they are deformable or malleable only to a limited extent, although for certain applications it would be desirable for thicker bands to be assured of a good malleability.
Although it has previously been possible, in principle, to reestablish the malleability of embrittled amorphous alloys during manufacture or as a result of thermal treatment by subjecting these alloys to a particle beam composed of neutrons or lightweight ions, this known method has a considerable drawback since during the particle irradiation the amorphous alloys become radioactive, so that for all practical purposes a further processing is no longer possible. Thus, for nearly all applications of the amorphous alloys, this known method is unacceptable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method with which, in a very economical manner, brittle or embrittled amorphous alloys can again be made deformable or malleable without any fundamental change of the alloy characteristics and without any limitation of the applications for the alloys, whereby the inventive method is in principle applicable to all amorphous alloys.